History
In 1985, The Escape Club signed with EMI and recorded the album White Fields, which was released in the following year. In 1987, the group moved to Atlantic Records and began recording their next album, Wild Wild West. The album was released in the summer of 1988 and spawned the single single, "Wild, Wild West", which climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart while the song's distinctive video received a lot of MTV airplay. However it was banned from being used in their homeland for being allegedly sexist and offensive.
In 1989, they released two more singles from Wild Wild West: "Shake for the Sheik," which climbed to No. 28, and "Walking Through Walls," which peaked at No. 81. The Escape Club's cover single of The Doors' "20th Century Fox" appeared on the The Wonder Years: Music From the Emmy Award-Winning Show & Its Era, which also received airplay on MTV. The band's official website reported that the song was produced by Ray Manzarek.
In 1990, the band returned to the studio to record what would be their final album, Dollars & Sex, which saw a March 1991 release. The first single, "Call It Poison" failed to crack the US Top 40. Atlantic Records then released the song "I'll Be There," which the group said was heavily influenced by the death of a friend's wife. The song has become an anthem among those who have experienced losses of their own. "I'll Be There" reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and achieved gold status in the U.S. The group disbanded in 1992. The Escape Club is the only British band to have a No. 1 hit in the U.S., while not charting at all in the UK.
Trevor Steel and John Holliday reunited in 2009 for a new album and a handful of live shows, and released a new studio album, Celebrity, in February 2012.
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